Police said the woman, in her mid-20s, was stalked by the driver of a dark four-door sedan as she walked home alone from the downtown area about 1:30 in the morning.

After circling the block a few times, the man got out of his car and knocked the woman unconscious, threw her in the trunk and took her to a remote dirt road in Jackson County, where he sexually assaulted her and savagely beat her, police said.

The woman was able to crawl to a nearby home for help after her assailant left. Briefly hospitalized for numerous cuts and abrasions, the victim has since been able to return to the scene with investigators and sit with Georgia Bureau of Investigation artist Marla Lawson to help create a composite sketch of the suspect.

Athens-Clarke police Lt. W.J. Smith said police continue to work with Jackson County authorities in the investigation. He said they are pursuing a few leads in the case.

''We still have got high hopes,'' he said.

Nancy Zechella, director of the crime prevention advocacy group Safe Campuses Now, urged people to be cautious about getting home late at night. In the past school year, four women have been abducted and assaulted while walking home alone late at night.

Police charged Sylvester Deon Collins of Jackson County with three of those attacks. He is awaiting trial on 14 felonies.

''It concerns me that we started the first of this school year with women walking home alone from the downtown area late at night and we ended the same way,'' Zechella said. ''It concerns me in two ways: the lack of transportation, and we need to work harder to get the message out to students.''

Zechella recommends that those who must walk home should carry a cell phone, walk in well-lit areas and walk with friends.

Smith said it's possible that the May 6 assault may not be the last committed by their suspect, in light of other cases of serial attackers and the severity of the assault.

''This scares me a little bit,'' Smith said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Athens-Clarke police at (706) 613-3337.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Tuesday, May 15, 2001.